Women breaking barriers in Navy, not SEALs yet

FILE - In this Aug. 26, 2011, file photo Navy Secretary Ray Mabus is interviewed by the Associated Press at the Pentagon. While America's military women have been propelled into new and riskier roles over the last ten years of war, some doors remain closed, chief among them special operations forces. Mabus noted that there's a ban on moving women into combat and infantry jobs, but said more women are working in support roles with special operations forces. He did not rule out that a qualified woman could eventually become an elite commando, but cautioned "We're going to have to take some careful, well-thought-out steps in that direction." (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
— AP

FILE - In this Aug. 26, 2011, file photo Navy Secretary Ray Mabus is interviewed by the Associated Press at the Pentagon. While America's military women have been propelled into new and riskier roles over the last ten years of war, some doors remain closed, chief among them special operations forces. Mabus noted that there's a ban on moving women into combat and infantry jobs, but said more women are working in support roles with special operations forces. He did not rule out that a qualified woman could eventually become an elite commando, but cautioned "We're going to have to take some careful, well-thought-out steps in that direction." (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
/ AP

Across the services, just a handful of jobs are closed to women, and those are mainly combat, infantry, artillery, pararescue, tank and special operations forces.

The growth in the number of women in the military, and their increasing roles in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, may be tearing down slowly the remaining walls that bar them from serving in front line combat.

Earlier this year, a military advisory panel recommended that the final areas of discrimination be dismantled, bucking concerns that women lack the strength and stamina to fulfill those grueling jobs, or that the American public will balk at seeing large numbers of women coming home in body bags.

Already more than 255,000 women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and nearly 150 have been killed in those wars.

And while women may not be SEALs, or members of the Army's prestigious Delta Force, they are increasingly serving with special operations teams in supporting jobs such as intelligence analysts, legal specialists, builders and administrative assistants.

So, while the SEALs who stormed Osama bin Laden's compound early this month were all men, women have been deploying to the warfront with Naval Special Warfare Command squadrons for several years. Since 2007, 10 to 15 women have deployed with each NSW squadron, and more than 400 female sailors serve with the Navy's special operations forces in supporting jobs.

That program temporarily assigns women to units that are close to the warfront, but it precludes them from doing combat missions. So far, said Sullivan, it has been very successful.

"One of the things we are seeing is that as women move up and get more and more responsibilities, our retention rates for junior officers and junior enlisted are going up as well," Mabus said.